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lizshayne's reviews
2221 reviews
A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This series really does remain one of my "Holmes is extremely neurodivergent, duh" stories and I continue to enjoy it even if I keep wondering if the story will ever actually go anywhere.
In fairness, this is ALSO the problem with the original Sherlock Holmes stories so, you know, true to form.
And also true to Holmesian form, the goal of this book is not to figure it out yourself. It's to be entertained while Charlotte tells you how the somewhat unrealistic deductions work. That is the joy of a Conan Doyle story and it works perfectly here as well.
In fairness, this is ALSO the problem with the original Sherlock Holmes stories so, you know, true to form.
And also true to Holmesian form, the goal of this book is not to figure it out yourself. It's to be entertained while Charlotte tells you how the somewhat unrealistic deductions work. That is the joy of a Conan Doyle story and it works perfectly here as well.
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw, Richard Kadrey
I really wanted this book to end and tie up the story and it did not and I am not sure if that is because a sequel is imminent or if that is because that is what the story demanded or just that I am easily annoyed.
I suspect I have expectations about horror novels and this book broke those expectations, specifically about what constitutes the end of the story.
But I really liked so much of it, especially the portrayal of Wall Street and also just all the weird stuff going on with the different kinds of people.
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I suspect I have expectations about horror novels and this book broke those expectations, specifically about what constitutes the end of the story.
But I really liked so much of it, especially the portrayal of Wall Street and also just all the weird stuff going on with the different kinds of people.
Lord of the White Hell, Book 2 by Ginn Hale
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Still enjoying this series, still fascinated by the very early 2010s aesthetic in fantasy religion, which I think would be handled differently if written these days.
Did not actually like the audiobook version, but it was what the library had and I am impatient and can handle just about any narrator at 2x speed. But yeah, I prefer these books in written form.
Did really enjoy it though and, while it never surprised me in terms of plot, I was entertained along the ride the entire time.
Did not actually like the audiobook version, but it was what the library had and I am impatient and can handle just about any narrator at 2x speed. But yeah, I prefer these books in written form.
Did really enjoy it though and, while it never surprised me in terms of plot, I was entertained along the ride the entire time.
Lord of the White Hell, Book One by Ginn Hale
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I have been sleeping on Ginn Hale for reasons I still don't know. Also I should probably just cave and create a romantasy tag.
My main complaint about this book is that it does not end, it stops and then just picks right up in book two and, like, why even bother? (Probably print binding, but I digress.)
There's something very fun about reading a book written 14 years ago and noticing how the genre has changed - both the romance and the fantasy side - and which arcs are just absolutely essential.
My main complaint about this book is that it does not end, it stops and then just picks right up in book two and, like, why even bother? (Probably print binding, but I digress.)
There's something very fun about reading a book written 14 years ago and noticing how the genre has changed - both the romance and the fantasy side - and which arcs are just absolutely essential.
The Unicorn Anthology by Peter S. Beagle
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Take as given my usual "short stories are hard to review" kvetch. All of these were strange and compelling in their own weird ways, although some of them stood out more than others.
What felt like it ran through all of them as a theme was the unicorn not as purity, but as the loss of something.
No paradise except the paradise lost.
What felt like it ran through all of them as a theme was the unicorn not as purity, but as the loss of something.
No paradise except the paradise lost.
Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I was so intrigued by Leduc's assertion that this isn't actually a work of academic fairy tale scholarship, although I may just have a rather different view of what is and ought to constitute scholarship these days.
She does the thing that I love where she analyses something beloved in a way that sees both why it is valued and loved and still clearly notices the flaws. She's also very good at giving the attempts to subvert both the credit and critique they are due. For that, I'll even forgiveher defense of the final season of GoT.
The thing that sticks with me, beyond the way she interleaves her own story and tells it as a kind of post-fairy-tale fairy tale, is the way she makes my favorite argument, which is that it's rarely the explicit values of a text that shape how we think, but the implicit and the normal/ized that are most integral to how we think. There's this big and messy and complicated conversation that looms over books when it comes to the obligation of portrayal - both in terms of whether it lands on the individual or the collective and also in terms of what exactly we take from texts. This book feels like an important piece of that conversation, even if it does not do so by taking a stand.
She does the thing that I love where she analyses something beloved in a way that sees both why it is valued and loved and still clearly notices the flaws. She's also very good at giving the attempts to subvert both the credit and critique they are due. For that, I'll even forgive
The thing that sticks with me, beyond the way she interleaves her own story and tells it as a kind of post-fairy-tale fairy tale, is the way she makes my favorite argument, which is that it's rarely the explicit values of a text that shape how we think, but the implicit and the normal/ized that are most integral to how we think. There's this big and messy and complicated conversation that looms over books when it comes to the obligation of portrayal - both in terms of whether it lands on the individual or the collective and also in terms of what exactly we take from texts. This book feels like an important piece of that conversation, even if it does not do so by taking a stand.
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I love Cleric Chih and I so appreciate how clever Vo is in telling new stories and telling complicated stories. The way that Vo always plays with the story that the characters think is being told and the story that is actually told is always so good and fun and clever and I always put these novellas down impressed and delighted.
A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I'm not sure this cover could scream "For fans of the Last Binding series" more loudly if it tried. Truth in advertising, though.
Also I couldn't tell if this book was trying to be Dickensian and just not actually succeeding or if the throwaway references to Dickens characters were one-offs. There's definitely something in the names that feels our old friend Charles, but not so much in the rest of the style. In the above ground plot themes, well, obviously.
This book takes more from Rosetti's "Goblin Market" (thank goodness) and is, overall, true to the story Rosetti tells of bargains made and narrowly avoided and the place of love and care in/against the power of the bargain.
What it doesn't do, that "Goblin Market" does, is transcend that world of give and take. I'm not sure it's trying to, but it may have been a book with much more to say if it had.
Not that I mind a book that is exactly what it says on the tin - what if we beat the villains at their own game?
Also I couldn't tell if this book was trying to be Dickensian and just not actually succeeding or if the throwaway references to Dickens characters were one-offs. There's definitely something in the names that feels our old friend Charles, but not so much in the rest of the style. In the above ground plot themes, well, obviously.
This book takes more from Rosetti's "Goblin Market" (thank goodness) and is, overall, true to the story Rosetti tells of bargains made and narrowly avoided and the place of love and care in/against the power of the bargain.
What it doesn't do, that "Goblin Market" does, is transcend that world of give and take. I'm not sure it's trying to, but it may have been a book with much more to say if it had.
Not that I mind a book that is exactly what it says on the tin - what if we beat the villains at their own game?
Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul by Brandy Schillace
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
The fundamental problem with grabbing books off your TBR is that sometimes the mood you were in when you put the book on your virtual shelf is not the mood you were in when you pulled it off. This is probably not the book I would have chosen to get out of a week-long reading slump, but here we are.
I am always down for a good history of science book and this did not disappoint even if it is not for the faint of stomach. I am bothered by very few things, but even I had a couple of "I am peacefully knitting and reading about some SERIOUSLY weird stuff right now" moments.
Schillace is a careful narrator and tells this story with the kind of love that bespeaks special interest and a willingness to carefully opine without being judgemental. You don't get the sense that there's a torrent of opinion just waiting to break forth, but instead a carefully considered telling of a story that is, in fact, as complicated as it looks.
I had also forgotten how much of the history of transplant was about turning it into something acceptable and I'm almost tempted to dig back into the great brain death debate in Judaism. Almost.
I am always down for a good history of science book and this did not disappoint even if it is not for the faint of stomach. I am bothered by very few things, but even I had a couple of "I am peacefully knitting and reading about some SERIOUSLY weird stuff right now" moments.
Schillace is a careful narrator and tells this story with the kind of love that bespeaks special interest and a willingness to carefully opine without being judgemental. You don't get the sense that there's a torrent of opinion just waiting to break forth, but instead a carefully considered telling of a story that is, in fact, as complicated as it looks.
I had also forgotten how much of the history of transplant was about turning it into something acceptable and I'm almost tempted to dig back into the great brain death debate in Judaism. Almost.
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Lev Rosen's books are always delightful examples of their genres. I'll even forgive this one for having slight hard-boiled vibes because it turns out that everyone is actually soft inside here. Yolks on you!
My main critique is that I called whodunnit not based on the plot or clues, but based on the prejudice of the characters involved. Which I would not have been able to do had a few more people been assholes. Basically I could have used a little more messiness even though I understand the ambiguous utopia that Rosen was trying to construct. I get it, I just don't like it is, after all, the prerogative of the reader.